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Nary a day goes by without a public apology of one kind or another. It’s a growth industry. Public apologies are so commonplace that they tend to lose all meaning. But they’re not going away, and often are the only remedy for companies and organizations that know they need to admit to wrongdoing.
The public apology got another airing Wednesday, when President Obama personally apologized on Wednesday to the head of Doctors Without Borders for what he described as the mistaken bombing of its field hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
President Obama promised a full investigation into the episode, which took the lives of nearly two dozen doctors and patients, according to the New York Times.
At the White House on Wednesday, per the Times, Josh Earnest, the press secretary, said that “when the United States makes a mistake, we own up to it, we apologize.”
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Obama probably would not have apologized unless he was absolutely certain the U.S. was at fault, said Steve Cody, co-founder and CEO of Peppercomm.
Obama’s apology raises other questions about the public apology—and how senior PR pros can make sure that when their senior executives or clients do apologize it doesn’t make a bad situation worse. Cody offers a few other tips.
1. Verify first. Conduct a swift, but thorough, investigation to assure your organization was, in fact, culpable for whatever went wrong. The textbook example of verifying first occurred when Pepsi was accused of selling soda with syringes in the cans. The CEO first insisted upon a thorough investigation, which uncovered that one, disgruntled employee had done the dirty work. The employee was fired, Pepsi's cans remained on store shelves and no apology was necessary.
2. Be swift and sincere. If your company is guilty of the transgression the CEO, should act immediately. Announce what happened, what steps are being taken to contain any further damage and launch a thorough investigation (preferably led by an impartial third party). Apologize over and over. And, release new facts as they become available. If an employee has been hurt or killed, make it your business to personally express condolences.
3. Reassure your constituencies. Once you've determined exactly what happened and why, announce new policies and procedures to assure any future such event will not occur again. And, apologize once again on behalf of the entire organization.
There’s a fine line between newsjacking and taking advantage, aka ambulance chasing. Our job as PR professionals is to tread it carefully.
PR firms need to be mindful of ways their work product may be protected by the attorney-client privilege whenever working with a client’s internal legal team or its external legal counsel.
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